Sitaram Yechury again writes to EC

The general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, on Saturday reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on TV and radio announcing the success of the “Mission Shakti” anti-satellite missile test was a gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

A day after the Election Commission (EC) concluded that Prime Minister had not violated the Model Code of Conduct by announcing on TV and radio the success of the “Mission Shakti” anti-satellite missile test on Wednesday, Yechury again wrote to the poll-panel arguing that it had only dealt with the question whether the official media had been misused or not, but did not take into account the larger issue.

“The larger issue is that Prime Minister as a candidate in the ensuing elections is using the office of the Prime Minister to convey a development achieved by our scientists during the election. This constitutes a gross misuse of the office for furthering electoral objectives,” Yechury wrote to Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora, on Saturday.

He noted that the senior government officers like the director of the Defence Research and Development would have normally made the announcement on the success of Mission Shakti.

“That the Prime Minister chose to announce it himself constitutes a gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct. It is a gross misuse of the office of the Prime Minister for partisan ends,” Yechury wrote to Arora.

The EC had on Friday written to the CPI (M) general secretary stating that the committee appointed by it to look into the issue had concluded that Prime Minister's announcement on the Mission Shakti last Wednesday had not amounted to misuse of official mass media and thus to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The commission also conveyed to him that it had accepted the findings of the committee.

Yechury had on Wednesday written to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora alleging that Prime Minister had violated the Model Code of Conduct as his speech on the success of the anti-satellite missile test was aired by public broadcasters, Doordarshan and All India Radio.

The EC gave clean chit to Prime Minister as Doordarshan and All India Radio had clarified that the public broadcasters had not recorded his speech on “Mission Shakti”, but used the feed provided by a private news agency to air it.

Yechury, however, again wrote to the Chief Election Commission on Saturday, pointing out that soon after his speech on the success of anti-satellite missile; Prime Minister claimed that he was a “chowkidaar” not only on land and air, but also in outer space. Prime Minister and other leaders of the BJP were actively campaigning saying that this government had shown the guts which the previous governments had not, the CPI (M) leader noted.

“What else does this mean, but a gross misuse of the office of the Prime Minister for seeking electoral gains,” Yechury wrote to Arora, requesting him to take cognizance of it too.

The communist leader requested the poll panel to ask the Doordarshan and the AIR to air the speech and statements of other political leaders as prominently as they aired Prime Minister's address to the nation.